COP29 DEJA VU
Azerbaijan names a former oil exec to lead climate talks. Activists have concerns

SIBI ARASU
Fri, January 5, 2024 

FILE - Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan ecology and natural resources minister, attends a plenary stocktaking session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Babayev has been named to lead the United Nations' annual climate talks later this year, prompting concern from some climate activists over his former ties to the state oil company in a major oil-producing nation.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)More

Azerbaijan's ecology minister has been named to lead the United Nations' annual climate talks later this year, prompting concern from some climate activists over his former ties to the state oil company in a major oil-producing nation.

Mukhtar Babayev's appointment was announced on X by the United Arab Emirates, which hosted the climate talks that just ended in December, and confirmed Friday by the United Nations. Officials in Azerbaijan did not immediately respond to messages seeking to confirm the appointment.

Babayev, 56, has been his country's minister for ecology and natural resources since 2018. Before that, he worked at Azerbaijan's state oil company for more than two decades.

Similar concerns dogged Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the UAE's national oil company, as he presided over the talks in Dubai known as COP28. The COP president is responsible for running talks and getting nearly 200 countries to agree on a deal to help limit global warming, and skeptics questioned whether al-Jaber would be willing to confront the fossil fuels causing climate change.

The conference ultimately resulted in a final agreement that for the first time mentioned fossil fuels as the cause of climate change and acknowledged the need to transition away from them, but it had no concrete requirements to do so.

Oil and natural gas bring in around 90% of Azerbaijan’s export revenues and finance around 60% of the government budget, according to the International Energy Agency. Climate activists said the country needs to look past its own fossil fuel interests if it's going to host successful talks.

Mohamad Adow of climate think tank Power Shift Africa said it’s “concerning to be once again having the world’s climate negotiations coordinated by a petrostate that has a big interest in oil and gas production." But he was hopeful that climate negotiators could be successful in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku as “the COP in Dubai resulted in an outcome more positive than many expected.”

“He’s got a huge job to do," said Adow. "He needs to start working on getting rich countries to deliver serious, long-term finance that will tackle the climate crisis.”

Harjeet Singh, global engagement director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said that “with another petrostate hosting the climate conference, our concerns multiply."

Babayev "must transcend the vested interests of the powerful fossil fuel industry that is primarily responsible for the climate crisis," Singh said.

Melanie Robinson, global director for the climate program at World Resources Institute, didn't comment directly on Babayev but said “stakes will be high” in Azerbaijan, where nations will tackle issues including how to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation around the world, particularly in poorer countries.

“As with all presidencies, the world will be looking to Azerbaijan to fairly facilitate the most ambitious outcome possible,” she said.

The United Nations moves the talks around the world with different regions taking turns. They're typically announced two years in advance, but the decision to hold 2024 talks in Azerbaijan came just 11 months before the negotiations are supposed to start.

That was due to a longtime standoff between Eastern European nations, the region designated to host in 2024. A prisoner swap between Azerbaijan and Armenia in early December led to Armenia supporting Azerbaijan's COP29 bid.

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Associated Press science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington and freelance journalist Aida Sultanova in London contributed.

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Anger as oil and gas industry veteran chosen to lead next Cop climate talks

Jane Dalton

THE INDEPENDENT UK
Fri, January 5, 2024

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A veteran of the fossil fuel industry has been appointed to lead the world’s next round of climate emergency negotiations, prompting dismay among environmentalists.

Mukhtar Babayev spent more than 24 years working in Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar), according to his LinkedIn profile.

Last year there was widespread anger at the appointment of Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to head the climate talks in Dubai.

Mukhtar Babayev spoke at Cop28 in Dubai (AP)

Ending the burning of fossil fuels is seen as vital to keeping global temperature rises under 1.5C and averting the worst effects, such as drought, floods and devastation of food production.

The Azerbaijani government appointed Mr Babayev, its ecology and natural resources minister, as president of the United Nations Cop29 talks that are due to be held in Baku in November.

Scientists and climate campaigners expressed disappointment at the appointment.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer told The Independent: “A dangerous and very unwelcome pattern is developing with this latest planned appointment – the oil industry capture of the COP process.

“COP works because it brings together governments, the people most impacted by climate change and non-governmental organisations.

“Consensus and actions to combat climate change have been hard won. This is at risk if we allow COP to be taken over and run in the interests of the very people who are creating and profiting from the crisis.”

University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann wrote on social media that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change had not taken to heart scientists’ call last year for oil industry executives to not be allowed to exert heavy influence over – much less lead – annual climate negotiations.

However, according to a leaked 2008 telegram from the US Azeri ambassador to the US government, Mr Babayev’s approach put him at odds with Socar’s “grand old man”, a company chief.

He wanted to alter how his company developed its resources, the document shows, saying he had to change its attitude to the environment, ensuring it preserved the environment while fulfilling its mission to develop Azerbaijan’s hydrocarbon resources.

He said Socar was trying to establish a master plan for cleaning-up the Absheron Peninsula, devastated by oil and chemicals production, and that his mission was to "change the mentality" of Azerbaijanis over their responsibilities to preserve the environment.

Azerbaijan, which is rich in fossil fuels, has an estimated 2.5 trillion cubic metres of natural gas reserves, according to a 2021 BP review, and is aiming to double gas exports to Europe by 2027.

At last year’s Dubai talks, an 11th-hour accord was struck calling for the first time for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner”.

But some environmentalists condemned it for failing to set out detailed plans to cut fossil fuel use and keep global warming below 1.5C.